2 Ratios

The media reports that ‘one in three people rejects technology such as computers and mobile phones’. Alternatively, you could say that ‘for every one person who rejects technology, there are two people who embrace it’. Mathematically, we say that ‘the ratio of people who reject technology to those who embrace technology is one to two’. This ratio could be written as , or in colon notation as 1:2. Ratios provide another way to convey information.

Let’s consider the following example. After 22 rounds of the Rugby Union Premiership in the 2012/13 season, Northampton had won 14 matches and lost eight. What is the ratio of wins to losses for the team?

The ratio of wins to losses can be set up as a fraction, placing the wins in the numerator (the top of fraction) and the losses in the denominator (the bottom of fraction). We have 14 wins over 8 losses, or . If you were a sports reporter you may well leave this as an improper fraction, but in maths we want to show these in the simplest form, so would simplify this as follows by dividing the numerator and denominator by 2:

Thus, the ratio of wins to losses is 7 to 4.